|
IMBA ANNUAL MEETING
By Jane Licht
The Annual Meeting
of Members of the International Morab Horse Association (IMBA) was held
in McFarland, Wisconsin on November 4, 2006. Two members of IMBA’s
Board of Directors participated in the meeting through
teleconferencing: Ingrid Buchmeier from Lander, Wyoming, and Karen
Petersen from Cream Ridge, New Jersey.
Webmaster Wendy
Konichek reported that the IMBA website now has 96 pages. The website
address is
www.morab.com She also recommended that this Internet website and
the Morab Perspective magazine be used for promotions in place of
the Stallion and Sales Catalogue and the members agreed.
Two new levels will
be added to the popular Lifetime Achievement Awards Program (LAAP) and
these are: “Golddust” that requires a total of 12,000 points and
“Supreme Morab” requiring 24,000 points. Participation in various
disciplines, horse shows and trail riding earns members points for their
horses that are enrolled in LAAP. The Awards Committee will also
develop special versatility and endurance awards.
Linda Konichek who
chairs the National Promotions Committee said that articles on Morabs
appeared in the Yankee Peddler, Western Horseman, Trail
Rider, and the Midwest Exchange magazines this past year.
Wendy Konichek
presented her idea of a “Discover the Morab” theme to celebrate the 20th
anniversary of IMBA and the members voted to establish a committee to
work on this project.
Part way through the
meeting, Wendy unrolled a large banner donated by Kerry Greear and some
of the members stood behind it to have their photo taken. Kerry is an
endurance rider who had the banner made for one of her events. The new
Morab banner will be available for loan to IMBA Region leaders and other
members for special events. Specific information on obtaining the
banner will be placed on the IMBA website.
A change to the
bylaws was approved. New language was added to the section on
qualifications for candidates who run for the board of directors. They
must now be a member in the year prior to the year in which the ballots
will be cast, or by petitioning the board for approval.
Copies of various
promotional brochures were distributed and the members who developed
them were thanked. Many of these brochures will need to be updated
because of the new LAAP categories.
Members opened
ballots on the “blue seal” registry designation and tallied them as a
committee of the whole. The vote to dispense with the blue seal
designation won by a wide margin. This affects some horses from older
and now defunct Morab registries that were invited into the
International Morab Registry, and it also affects some of their
progeny. The results of the Blue Seal Vote are as follows:
Option A – 24 Yes,
45 No (Keep the blue seal designation as it was in 2001)
Option B – 53 Yes,
24 No (Eliminate the blue seal designation)
Option 1 – 33
(Use an X for unknowns) vs. Option 2 – 28 (Use a # for unknowns)
Option 3 – 58 (If
blue seal is kept allow progeny to become gold) vs. Option 4 – 12
(Never allow progeny of blue seal to become gold)
Michelle Feder gave
background information on Shagya Arabians. There are only about 200 in
this country but they are becoming very popular in Europe. Some are not
registerable with the Arabian Horse Association but they are
well-documented. Michelle will chair a committee to present information
to the membership and offer a vote to allow the cross to be registered
Morabs with the “S” designation.
A motion was made to
establish a deadline for membership applications in order to vote. The
application to join IMBA must be postmarked by September 15 in order for
that person to vote in the fall elections. For those who miss this
deadline, their memberships will be carried over into the next year.
Wendy Konichek was
re-elected to the IMBA Board of Directors and Karen Smith from Sanford,
Maine was elected for the first time. The new Board of Directors
elected officers. Ingrid Buchmeier is chair, Karen Petersen is
vice-chair, Jane Licht is secretary, and Wendy Konichek is treasurer.
|
